Deep Purple at the Jube

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The good news for Deep Purple is that we’re all aging at the same clip. Besides, what else is an aging rocker to do other than play — especially when it can still be done this well?

Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath leading the charge in late’ 60s British hard rock — what later became known as “heavy metal” — Deep Purple is still pulling it off 44 years later.

Smack in the middle of the group’s Smoke On The Nation Tour, the British legends threw down at the fabulous Southern Jubilee Auditorium last night to an appreciative crowd of around 2,300 old-school heavy rock punters.

At 66 and sporting a walking cast on his right leg, singer Ian Gillan looked a little worse for wear, but he knocked out Highway Star as if it were 1972 to open an evening of classic British rock memories.

The crowd, a good mix of aging rockers, musicians and even a smattering of curious 20-somethings, greeted the icons with a much-deserved hero’s welcome. In terms of massive tours gone by, the stage theatrics were kept to a minimum of a well-lit stage and massive logo backdrop. The music did the talking.

True, no one can ever replace legendary axeman Ritchie Blackmore, but guitarist Steve Morse is no slouch, and he showed his mettle through classics such as Hard Lovin’ Man, Maybe I’m A Leo and a killer interpretation of Strange Kind Of Woman as bassist Roger Glover and original drummer Ian Paice held down the bottom end with deft precision.

The characteristic ghostly organ and keyboard histrionics that set the group apart through the acid-rock ’70s, are now provided by veteran Don Airey, who powered the group through Rapture Of The Deep, an outstanding version of Woman From Tokyo (which first appeared on the group’s 1973 release Who Do We Think We Are) and Contact Lost. Following a Morse guitar solo, Gillan continued to be gain momentum through When A Blind Man Cries, The Well-Dressed Guitar and The Mule, which featured a drum solo from Paice. Not to be outdone, Airey knocked out a nifty keyboard solo which preceded the title cut of the group’s 1984 comeback album Perfect Strangers.

Some may grumble when it comes to instrumental hard rock solos, but this is a ’60s and ’70s arena rock act, dammit, and such practices are merely an accepted occupational hazard!

The show reached its expected climax with Space Truckin’ from the classic, Machine Head, and the unmistakeable opening riff of, Smoke On The Water. To fully appreciate this song’s importance you need to have held an electric guitar at least once in your life. ‘Nuff said.

An encore of Hush, and Black Night brought the two-hour show to its conclusion. To say no one went home disappointed would be a classic understatement.

Montreal’s Jonas & The Massive Attraction opened the evening with a polished set of tight, yet generic hard rock highlighted by Seize The Day, and the title track from its 2010 album, The Big Slice.

Although singer Jonas Tomalty has a powerhouse voice, the material is forgettable in a Nickelback kind of way. That said, we can only look forward to some new material later this year.